Steak

Mario battling the steak.

“Here's a little something to help you get started. Heh...”

—Anonymous VIP, Paper Mario: Color Splash

The steak is a mini boss in Paper Mario: Color Splash. The cut and beef marbling of the steak makes it appear to be a strip steak.

History

After Mario substitutes for the head chef of Tangerino Grill due to him being left injured by a troupe of Shy Guys making mischief in the kitchen and prepares Mamma Mia Pizza for the Toads, an anonymous VIP demands to be fed. The VIP, while obscured by drapes, demands for Mario to prepare them something delicious, and tosses him a massive steak for him to "get started." Walking up to it begins the battle.

Battle

Mario blocks the steak's attack.

The fight against the steak is very unconventional, as the player has to prepare the steak within three turns by doing the following steps:

• The steak needs to be tenderized with a hammer, causing it to bend. Perfectly tenderized steak will be bent about 90 degrees. Two "Excellent!" hammer attacks or two "Nice!" big hammer attacks is enough to do so. It cannot be tenderized too much or else it will fall to the ground and the battle will end.
• After that, it has to be seasoned by using the Salt and Pepper Thing card. This will leave bits of pepper and salt on the steak.
• Next, it needs to be grilled evenly via the Charcoal Grill Thing card or with two "Excellent!" Big Fire Flower attacks. This will give it a toasted appearance.
• Finally, it has to be given lemon juice via the Lemon Thing card. This does not give any cosmetic alterations to the steak.

The steak is done.

The steak can attack Mario during the three turns. It can attack with a lower jab, which will deduct 12 HP if it connects, a roundhouse kick that will deduct 18 HP if connected, a double slap, deducting 8 HP each slap, and a body slam, which will deduct 14 HP when connected.

The fight can be ended early by choosing the "Done" option, which replaces "Flee". If the process is done correctly, the VIP will compliment Mario for his cooking and leave behind an orange Mini Paint Star. If certain conditions aren't met, the VIP will reject the steak and give Mario a new one to prepare. The steak will also be rejected if replicas of the Salt and Pepper, Charcoal Grill and Lemon Things are used. Starting with the third attempt, Mario must pay 1000 Coins for every new steak.

The steak is the third boss in a Super Mario RPG to be a sentient food or drink preparation, with the cake from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars being the first and Chuckolator from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga being the second. Similarly, all three are consumed after being defeated.

Creation and development

According to the developers' notes in the electronic manual, they wanted to make the steak look appetizing to anyone who saw it. During a company barbecue event, they had a professional cameraman take pictures of it during various stages of preparation. At the end of the notes, the writer jokes that a boss of the next game should be a crab or lobster.

Statistics

Paper Mario: Color Splash enemy
Steak
	HP	40	Type	Normal	Role	Boss	Card
	Strong		Weak		Card drop rate	0	None
	Moves	Front Attack (14, 8), Back Attack (12, 18)
	Location(s)	Tangerino Grill
Quotes	N/A
Enemy class
N/A
Dropped items
Hammer Scraps 0 Red paint 0 Yellow paint 0 Blue paint 0 Orange paint 0 Green paint 0 Purple paint 0

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning	Notes
Japanese	にく[?] Niku	Meat
German	Steak[?]	-
Italian	Bistecca[?]	Steak
Portuguese	Bife[?]	Steak
Russian	Стейк[?] Steyk	Steak
Spanish	Filete[?]	Steak